Question

What is green revolution and how did it solve food crisis in India

Answer 1

The Green Revolution, or Third Agricultural Revolution, refers to a set of research and the development of technology transfer initiatives occurring between the 1930s and the late 1960s (with prequels in the work of the agrarian geneticist Nazareno Strampelli in the 1920s and 1930s), that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. The initiatives resulted in the adoption of new technologies, including:

...new, high-yielding varieties(HYVs) of cereals, especially dwarf wheats and rices, in association with chemical fertilizers and agro-chemicals, and with controlled water-supply (usually involving irrigation) and new methods of cultivation, including mechanization. All of these together were seen as a 'package of practices' to supersede 'traditional' technology and to be adopted as a whole.

Answer 2

Green Revolution is the term given to the introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation which provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India. It was brought to India by the initiative of Indian government. Genetically modified high-yielding wheat was first introduced to India in 1960 by Dr. Norman Borlaug It is also rightly credited to M. S. Swaminathan and his team who contributed towards the success of green revolution in India.

Merits of Green Revolution

Compared to the traditional seeds, the HYV seeds promised to produce much greater amounts of grain on a single plant. As a result, the same piece of land would now produce far larger quantities of food grains than was possible earlier.

Demerits of Green Revolution:

Poor farmers could not afford HYV seeds, fertilizers and machinery.
Some borrowed and ended up with large debts
HYV seeds need more water and fertilizer, which is expensive
New machinery replaced manual labour leading to unemployment and rural-urban migration
The Green Revolution was limited to rice and wheat only.